AN: Sorry that I haven't updated this in a while...I hope to have the next part out soon...but no promises.
AN2: This particular chapter may be revised...mostly grammar and such.
AN3: Hope you enjoy!

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The silence that reigned among the room was almost ear shattering. Both Phoebe and Cassandra were staring at Methos with a wide array of motions. The strongest of those seemed to be shock.

The rest of the occupants seemed to be glancing at every other person. Each person was trying to gauge if anyone else understood what had transpired. Finally, after a moment or two of this uncomfortable silence, Duncan spoke up.

"Ok. What just happened here?"

Everyone seemed to stare intently at both Phoebe and Cassandra.

"I…We had a vision." After Phoebe has said that she received a curious expression from Piper.

"Was it a shared vision?" Piper simply received nods of assent from both Cassandra and her sister.

"What was the vision about?" Xander asked this with a growing feeling of trepidation.

It was Cassandra that spoke up. "It was our battle with The First." She looked around at the expectant listeners. "Everything seemed to be going well. We actually had The First trapped in a containment circle."

"How can we contain something that is incorporeal?" Duncan looked around the table to see if anyone else had a similar question.

Cassandra spoke up once again. "The barriers that would hold The First within are completely mystical." Seeing Duncan's nod, she continued. "Everything seemed to be going on just fine when the vision suddenly changed."

Placing a hand on Cassandra's shoulder, Phoebe decided to take it from there. "Yea, instead of the first being destroyed everything seemed to go to Hell. There was an Army of Vampires and Demons. A man had run a sword through Duncan, he was dead."

The Immortals all glanced at one another knowing exactly who she meant. Phoebe just continued with her tale, not noticing the others.

There was resounding pain echoed in her voice. "Paige was on the ground unconscious. Leo was trying to heal both myself and Piper. And we were being swarmed by the enemy, being driven back." Xander wrapped his hand around her waist and pulled her into his embrace. The simple act seemed to comfort her somewhat.

Cassandra spoke up once again. "Everything had gone wrong. We seemed to be in the final moments of battle, and we were going to loose. That's when Methos…" She looked at him with a mixture of uncertain emotions pulsing within her. She closed her eyes and sighed. "Knowing that we were going to loose…he told me to use his quickening to fuel my spell."

Methos saying, "I did WHAT?" was followed by Duncan's "He did WHAT?" by less than a second. That was quickly followed by Methos grabbing his beer and downing the entire bottle. When he placed the empty bottle back on the table he took a deep breath before staring intently at Cassandra.

"What happened next?" His voice was almost hoarse. Though, in his mind he was raging in conflict. Could he really allow that to happen? Could he just give up his life like that? He'd be damned if he knew.

"Your Quickening was not just a simple one." Methos looked at her quizzically. "There was magic in it. The type of magic that hasn't been seen since well before you or I were supposedly 'born.'" She looked at him trying to gauge his reaction. 'He doesn't know.' She thought in amazement. 'How can someone have so much power and not know about it.' Her thoughts went back to the days when she was his slave and he was 'Death.' 'Of course he didn't know. If he had known in the past…he would have done far more damage as a horseman' She looked up at him with slightly new eyes and a final thought. 'Just how old is he?'

Out of everyone, it was Xander who was the first to speak. His voice was hard and there was certain edge to it.

"Ok, so we have to make sure that this doesn't happen." Everyone around the room simply nodded along. It seemed that most everyone else was trying to come to terms with what had been said.

With a sigh he continued. "So, what do we know about this? When does it happen? How many vamps and demons are we going to be facing?"

From next to him, Phoebe spoke up. "It's going to happen tonight." That got a muttered response from Xander of 'Of course it is!' She decided to ignore him. "And it takes place right out there." She was pointing out the glass pain sliding door that separated the kitchen area from the back yard. This time Methos muttered, 'Of course it does.' She decided to ignore him. "And there had to have been at least 40 or 50 Vampires and Demons." Both Methos and Xander looked at each other before they both nodded and muttered, 'Of course there are.' This time Phoebe gave him a 'slight' nudge to his chest.

After he got the air back into his lungs, he glanced over to Methos, who was currently smirking at him.

"There is something else." There was a great deal of uncertainty in Cassandra's voice. Her eyes locked onto Xander. "You were not in this vision even once. And you have never been in any of my past visions either."

Xander's brow furrowed. "What do you mean? Where was I?"

Phoebe looked at him and then at Cassandra. A thoughtful expression appeared on her face. "You know…it was more like you simply didn't exist, or didn't belong in the vision. I didn't get the feeling that you were somewhere else and just missing." Her thoughtful expression became confused once again. "It was just like…you weren't supposed to be there."

Cassandra seemed to think on this for a moment before agreeing with Phoebe. Xander looked around the room. Everyone was wearing a similar confused expression. Though, Methos was smirking slightly. 'Probably holding himself back from saying some Smart-Assed comment about me not being there while he sacrifices himself.' Once their eyes met the smirk became more of a grin while Methos nodded. Xander couldn't help but to snort.

Even though he was now receiving odd looks from the rest of the people occupying the kitchen, he simply ignored it. He realized there were now so many questions that were simply unanswered. And while he may want to know those answers, there were more pressing concerns.

One such concern was defeating The First. Another was holding back this army of vamps and demons. He also apparently had Richie to worry about. And most important to him, making sure when everything was said and done, Methos still had his head.

While plans could be made, one thing was certain. They needed more people. While Duncan, Cassandra, and The Charmed Ones would be a great asset in fighting off the vamps, demons and such, they were going to be preoccupied. Come to think of it, they were going to need protecting. They were going to need warriors, and quite a few.

Xander cleared his throat gaining everyone's attention. "Ok guys. I've got an idea."

"So…what's your idea?" Methos, as well as everyone else, was looking at him expectantly.

Smiling sheepishly, Xander replied. "Well, actually this is just a start to a plan. I think what we need most are more fighters." He looked around the room casting quick glances at everyone. "Five capable fighters are going to be out of the fight until The First is taken care of. More than that, it seems that they'll need to be protected." He looked over towards Leo, Chris, and Paige. "If we have any help that don't live near by, we could use you help with the transportation."

Duncan spoke up. "I'm sure Amanda would live to help. She said that she was going to join us anyways." He gave a quick smile to both Xander and Methos. "I know of another Immortal who will help. Though, I'll need to call him first."

"I've mostly kept to myself for a while now. I'm afraid that my contacts aren't what they once were." Methos seemed somewhat disappointed. He looked thoughtful for a moment before turning to Xander. "Do you think your friends would be willing to help?"

"I've thought of that. I'm going to give Giles a call. The problem is though I don't want to take too many Slayers away from the Hellmouth. I also don't want to put all of our eggs into one basket. If we fail…"

"If we fail…" Methos picked up line of reasoning. "It would be wise to have someone in place as a backup."

Xander nodded his agreement. "Though, I do have someone else I can call. But, some of you may not like it?" He looked over at Leo. "Do you remember me telling you about Angel?"

Leo nodded. "Yea, he was the Vampire with the Soul." Leo seemed to ponder this for a moment. "If he can get here quick enough he would be an asset. Though, I can't orb him anywhere. That power is considered Devine and it would kill him."

'That's a new one.' Xander was a little worried about this next part. "Well, right now he has also taken over the LA Branch of Wolfram & Hart"

That got a "WHAT?" out of both Cassandra and Leo. Both suddenly were expressing their misgivings about inviting the Souled Vampire.

Trying to placate everyone, Xander interrupted. "I know and completely agree. Listen, I trust Angel. But not Wolfram & Hart. I'll accept his help, but not that of his staff. The 'Original Fang Gang' as it was."

Cassandra still looked uncertain. "I'm still not sure if I'd expect much from someone who would willingly work for such a place."

"I'm not sure if this helps, but he's apparently trying to take Wolfram & Hart down from the inside." That didn't seem to do much to placate the Ancient Witch, though in the end she agreed.

"Ok, I'm going to go and call Giles. See if I can get this ball rolling on my end." He looked over to Leo. "Do you think you can help me take care of the people on my end?" Leo simply nodded his head.

Methos stood up. "While you are trying to find us resources, I'll try to figure out some form of battle plan. Let me know who you can get, and when, and I'll see what I can come up with." Xander smiled and shook his head before walking out of the room.